I found a gig at my LFS

[ento-reefer]

I wasn't expecting to find a gig at my LFS, let alone come home with him.

I have many years experience with reefs and I have kept crispa's, BTA's, and a haddoni, but I know getting and keeping a gig healthy is not easy. I have read all of the threads here on gigs so I know many don't make it despite treatment.

I had been planning to keep a couple of anemones in this tank so I set it up with the idea of adding a purple sebae or LTA. I haven't added many corals yet as I have wanted to wait until it was mature enough and add the nems first.

This little guy was at the store for about 3 days and had climbed up the front glass with its foot facing the front. This really made the ID easy because it had a blue foot with light blue verrucae present on the upper column. He was fully expanded and the mouth was tight. The tentacles are short, but the fact that it was moving towards the light and extremely sticky seemed like a good sign to me. The store owner sold him to me for $40 which I think is a steal if I can keep him healthy. He did not know there were more than 1 species of carpet anemone and told me it was listed as assorted carpet on his list. I am glad I decided to check out the anemone tank because I really don't think this guy would have done well in there for very long. I have a 10 g TT ready to go and antibiotics (Fish Flox -Ciprofloxacin 250 mg) if I need to treat it.

Here are a few photos I took today. He has been in the tank since Thursday and has not deflated yet. His mouth is still tight and he has eaten mysis that drifted over while I was feeding the fish. I have not purposely fed him yet as I wanted to wait a bit and let him acclimate to the tank. I welcome advice from all of the experienced gig owners.

[geckoejon]

score... i hope it continues to do well for you.

[OrionN]

Looking good. I hope he will do well for you also.

[CoralsAddiction]

Nice find! Good luck!

[ento-reefer]

Originally Posted by OrionN

Looking good. I hope he will do well for you also.

Thanks. Do you think flow influences tentacle length? I ask because this nem does not seem to appreciate much flow. It looks happiest in what I would say is low flow.

[tanksfishtank]

That is beautiful!

[Butchhe]

Looks like you found a healthy one. Good luck.

[ento-reefer]

He looks shaggier this morning and has moved some. His foot is half on the rock and half in the sand. My female percula found him during the night so I am hoping that she is gentle. He still looks great with mouth closed tight. I will get some more pics tonight after I get home from work.

[ento-reefer]

I had to work late tonight and when I got home my little guy had moved himself about 8" across the sand bed to the rock my clam was on. I moved the clam before he became chowder and my gig positioned his foot between the two small rocks. I think he looks really good and his mouth is still really tight.

Tomorrow will be 5 days in my tank so I am thinking about feeding him a small piece of salmon. Do you all think it is too soon?

I am thinking maybe I should start increasing the intensity of my lights. I had backed off to 45% blue and 20% white , but maybe he moved seeking more light? Any advice on how soon and how high I should raise the intensity?

I really appreciate the help from all of the anemone experts here.

The photos are with the tank lights off and the camera flash. He looks shaggier to me.

[Colorfulreefaqu]

Gosh I wish I could find a green at my LFS.

[OrionN]

If he have not deflated at all, a small feeding is fine. From experiences, it is hard not to feed a new anemone. He is a great looking anemone.

[Pinkskunk]

nice score.

feeding a newly acquired carpet can do more harm than good. i am not sure why some people are so overly obsessed with feeding their new carpets. i dont feed my new carpets for months and they all do GREAT, and i mean G R E A T !!!

[ento-reefer]

Originally Posted by Pinkskunk

nice score.

feeding a newly acquired carpet can do more harm than good. i am not sure why some people are so overly obsessed with feeding their new carpets. i dont feed my new carpets for months and they all do GREAT, and i mean G R E A T !!!

I don't think I am obsessed with feeding this anemone. I want to ensure that I am doing everything possible to keep him healthy. I know feeding him too soon could cause problems if he turned out to be sick. This is why I wanted someone experienced to advise me. I see your advice is to wait months. Can I ask why you would wait that long to feed if the anemone is healthy?

Thanks.

[ento-reefer]

Originally Posted by OrionN

If he have not deflated at all, a small feeding is fine. From experiences, it is hard not to feed a new anemone. He is a great looking anemone.

He has not deflated. He has eaten a few pieces of mysis with no problem. Thanks for your advice Orion.

[OrionN]

Originally Posted by Pinkskunk

nice score.

feeding a newly acquired carpet can do more harm than good. i am not sure why some people are so overly obsessed with feeding their new carpets. i dont feed my new carpets for months and they all do GREAT, and i mean G R E A T !!!

The spectrum of what reefers do for newly capture anemones have changes in the last 10 years from force feeding with blended bood syrined into the mouth to no feeding at all. There have never been a study which method would help the most. The result have also bee all over the place

No feeding and the anemone did great
No feeding and the anemone died
Feeding and the anemone did great
Feeding and the anemone died.

My opinion is that untreated sick (infected) anemone will died. Well anemone will live feeding or no. Over feeding can be a problem but healthy anemone will eat a huge meal, cannot digest it and spit it our later with no worst for wear. My Gigantea about 6 inches ate my Abalone with shell lenght of 4 inches and total lenght of 7 inches. about 36 hrs later he spit out the half digested abalone and was fine. I posted a picture of this somewhere two years ago when this happened.

Newly imported anemones are stressed and often injured. We can see this looking at these anemones, short tentacles, faded color, bleached, shrink....what have you. They need to energy from food to heal them self and get back to optimal health. I know that my Magnifica and Gigantea that did not get fed when first imported take much longer to look "healthy" again in compair to those that get feed. Other than taken longer to recover, they are fine.

Feed if you want but if you don't want you anemone to grow too much, not feeding is fine.

[ento-reefer]

Thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed explanation Orion. It helps a lot.

[ento-reefer]

My gig has now been in my tank for 7 days. He still looks good, no deflation and mouth has never opened. I think he may have finally settled in a spot to his liking. i decided to wait until the 2 week mark before I feed him just to make sure he is not sick. If a gig is sick how long does it usually take to show symptoms? If he goes 2 weeks without deflating is it safe to assume he will do well?

[OrionN]

If he have not deflated at all after 7 days in a new tank then he is not sick.

[ento-reefer]

Originally Posted by OrionN

If he have not deflated at all after 7 days in a new tank then he is not sick.

Thanks. That is very encouraging to hear. I am happy that he is doing well.

[ento-reefer]

Just an update. This gig continues to do well and is improving. I think I really lucked out with this little guy. I fed him a small piece of salmon and the feeding response was unreal. The nem folded it self onto the food and consumed it within 2 minutes. Nothing was going to steal that salmon! When the nem catches mysis the response is much slower.

Here are a few recent photos:

[OrionN]

I am glad that he is doing well. Great find

[geckoejon]

beautiful! i'm glad that it is doing well for you.

[ento-reefer]

Thanks. I breath a sigh of relief every morning when I look in the tank and see the gig still looking good. I don't think I will relax until it hits the several months mark.

[geckoejon]

Originally Posted by ento-reefer

Thanks. I breath a sigh of relief every morning when I look in the tank and see the gig still looking good. I don't think I will relax until it hits the several months mark.

lol i breath that same sigh of relief every time i check in on my new little gig

gigs area very beautiful. it's a shame that they are difficult to get acclimated.

[asudavew]

Nice gig and great work caring for it so far.

Good luck!